Kolkata: Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) raided 22 places on Thursday to unravel the money trails and beneficiaries of the multi-million-rupees Saradha chit fund scam.
Detectives searched seven locations in Kolkata in West Bengal, 12 in Guwahati, two in Dhubri districts of Assam, and one in Mumbai, in Maharashtra.
These locations including the homes and offices of two former Assam ministers, Himanta Biswa Sarma and Anjan Dutta, former police officer Shankar Baruah and singer Sadananda Gogoi in connection with the probe in alleged swindling of investors’ deposits by Saradha group.
Sarma was a powerful minister in the Assam government from 2001, but was dropped by the Chief Minister after he spearheaded a campaign to dislodge chief minister Tarun Gogoi. Dutta is considered a Gogoi loyalist who handled important portfolios such as transport.
In Kolkata, the agency had searched the premises of Bapi Karim, a former personal assistant to Bengal minister Madan Mitra, Sandhir Agarwal, Sajjan Agarwal Asif Khan and former IPS officer Deben Biswas. On Saturday, the agency had arrested Sandhir Agarwal, its third since taking over the investigations.
“In our ongoing interrogation, Sudipto Sen [the prime accused], had named few more politicians and bureaucrats who had helped him win over the trust of the people so that millions invest in his various schemes. We have raided few and others will follow soon,” said an investigating officer.
Meanwhile, the investigators also questioned city entrepreneur and the chairman of the now-defunct Xenitis Group, Santanu Ghosh for the second consecutive day. Ghosh, whose business ventures included computer and computer components manufacturing and automobile business, is said to have taken a huge loan from the Saradha group, but did not return the money.
He was arrested in June by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He was granted bail on August 25 by a city court after the ED failed to submit a charge sheet.
“Like Ghosh, many had taken huge sums of money from Sen, but there is no proper documentation. Also there is no record of refund or interest earning in the Saradha books,” informed an official.
A host of high-profile names including West Bengal minister Shyamapada Mukherjee, actress and film maker Aparna Sen, Trinamool Congress MP Ahmed Hassan Imran, and former IPS officer Rajat Majumdar have been grilled by the CBI or the ED in the scam.
There are four First Information Reports (FIRs) against Saradha Group in which it is alleged that thousands of investors were allegedly duped by the company officials and their associates who swindled their deposits. There are 44 FIRs in Odisha against Ponzi companies.
The Supreme Court had handed over the Saradha chit fund scam probe to CBI and asked the state governments to provide all logistical help to the CBI team investigating the matter. CBI has formed a Special Investigating Team (SIT) headed by Joint Director Rajeev Singh to also probe the role of Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and RBI.
“Investigation conducted so far puts a question mark on the role of regulatory authorities like SEBI, Registrar of Companies and officials of RBI within whose respective jurisdictions and areas of operation the scam not only took birth but flourished unhindered,” an apex court bench headed by Justice T S Thakur had said in its order.
